The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-03-24
m lie MANcos CANYON.
Relics of a People Who Have Faded from
the Earth--What PrOspectOr Saw


Relics of a People Who Have Faded from
the E,artF--What PrOspectOr Saw
The largest cliff house is worthy OF
better description than l can give, but L
win FRY to describe it in my own way Ii
is sitI1ate in Bear canyon $50 named Dy
nrosDectorsl. about three miles from the
Mancos canyon, on the west SIDE. from
tbe bottom of the canyon it requires about
one and one-half miles walk from polnI
immediately below it to reach 1t. In
climbing the cliffs on the route L TOOK L
found footsteps cut IN the rock, anu CnIIlA
the people who lived here must have gone
mn in the same way that 1 did. When L
arrived T found a perpendicular cliff about
forty feet high, which l climbed, by the
aid of a rope which threw on to small
cedar. at the risk of breaking my neck,
Int was well repaid for my troubles by
finding a building at least 25O feet IN
length, six stories in height in the front,
and from four to six rooms deep into the
cliff. This seems to have been chiefs
house, or perhaps a Pan Electric director,
or perhaps a Doodle man. The rooms were
finely plastered with gypsum, which had
u beautiful pink cast. In one room were
stone lasts, rudely shaped, but after the
fashion of the shoemaker'S last of to-day
Another room had arrow heads, stone
axes and hatchets. There are also two
weaving rooms. In one there is rude
kind of loom, in the other shuttles and
other implements for weaving; but as
do not understand weaving as well as the
ancients, 1 cannot describe them. found
specimens of cloth bling coarse linC
At one end found a chicken house Wit
roosts for chickens. l also found jugs O.
pottery made to resemble our viii,
mountain quail, and think perhaps that
the mountain quail was at one time the
domestic fowl of these people.
There is also a room in which venison
has been smoked. Every building has
round water tank, from ten to fifteen feet
across, and the larger buildings as many
as three. The tanks vary in depth from
five to ten feet. The kitchens of these
buildings seem to have been built weaker
than any other part, as they have nearly
all tumbled down, while the other parts
of the buildings are strong. There are
bushels of broken pottery in the parts
fallen down, so I naturally supposed them
to be kitchens. / never found building
in which the kitchen was standing, but I
do not doubt but there are some of them
left standing. If one could be found that
had not fallen, I think that there would
be great deal of pottery found. In every
ruin can be found corn cObs and husks,
squash rihds, bone knives, and curious
articles that l could not make out for
what use they were intended. There are
one or more granaries connected with
every building They have doors and
windows in which slabs of slate are fitted
to such nicely that a mouse could never
get into them. There are also cellars in
which l found large jars covered with
smooth, fat stones. What they contained
l can only surmise.
The buildings were heated with rude
hill ~
stone and cement inside running the full
length of the lower floor, as I supposed
for carrying heat to different apartments.
The walls in some places are covered with
paintings in which red colors predominant.
Pictures of men, women, animals and
birds.-San Miguel (COlo.) Cor. Denver
Tribune.